Reports
Leading Australia to More Innovative, Productive and Fulfilling Workplaces – The Role of Government
A report commissioned by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations with the objective of better understanding the rationale for, and potential benefits of, Government involvement and support for the development of Australia’s workplace leadership, culture and management capabilities. This paper outlines a case for change; examines evidence that testify to the benefits and productivity impacts of good leadership and management practices; summarises policy initiatives by overseas nations directed at lifting workplace performance, employee participation and innovation; and last provides recommendations for initiatives that the Australian Government can consider to undertake to encourage and support the promotion and proliferation of advanced leadership, culture and management practices to support the creation of more innovative, productive and fulfilling workplaces in Australia.
The IBSA Workforce Innovation Survey Tool prepared by the SKE
This project was commissioned by Innovation & Business Skills Australia (IBSA) in July 2008. The Society for Knowledge Economics (SKE) was commissioned by IBSA to research and develop a diagnostic Tool to assess innovation skills in the workforce. This report details the SKE work, including the development of the Tool and the outcomes of four pilot studies with Australian organisations.
The Tool breaks down innovation into four areas: 1) Generating Ideas, 2) Risk Taking, 3) Workplace Relationship Effectiveness, and 4) Turning Ideas into Products, Processes and Services. By further breaking these domains, or pillars, into skills, attitudes and behaviours, the Tool helps to ‘demystify’ innovation and assist users to understand what skills are necessary for innovation. Second, it shows that innovation skills are not solely confined to technical skills. Finally, it implies that all people in a workforce can be innovative.
The SKE prepares paper for the IBSA Enterprise Innovation Summit, Parliament House, Canberra, June 22, 2009
The SKE was commissioned by Innovation & Business Skills Australia (IBSA) to write a brief paper outlining the current state of Enterprise Innovation in Australia as background for participants at the recent IBSA Enterprise Innovation Summit. Held at Parliament House, Canberra, on Monday, 22nd June, 2009, the Summit brought together a wide range of participants from across Australia representing industry, government, unions and academia.
This paper sets out some perspectives on innovation and the ways in which leadership, culture and management within organisations contribute to innovation and productivity. It examines various views on innovation, including recent Australian initiatives, such as the Federal Government’s white paper 'Powering Innovation'. Examples from overseas governments are also reviewed and give insights and suggestions for what could be applicable in Australia. Importantly, the paper examines the link between business productivity and the quality of leadership, culture and management practices within organisations. The paper concludes by suggesting some possible ways forward for strengthening workplace practices and performance in Australia.
Mind the Gap: Australia's Knowledge Capital Shortcomings
Knowledge capital assets are central to delivering a sustained competitive advantage and ensuring organisational success, however less than one third of Australians organisations are achieving significant performance increases as a result of their knowledge capital. To find out the key drivers that unlock organisational performance from knowledge capital, download a copy of CSC's report from http://www.csc.com/au/pointsofview
BTalk Australia Phil Dobbie talks to Nick Wilkinson, CSC’s president and CEO for Australia, and Dr Christina Boedker, from the SKE about Knowledge Capital. Visit http://blogs.bnetau.com.au/aussierules/2009/06/22/bridging-the-knowledge-capital-gap-btalk-australia/
SKE Response to venturousaustralia – Green paper on Innovation.
Enabling Innovation: Leadership, Culture and Management at the Workplace Level.
A research study prepared by the SKE on behalf of the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, the Victorian Government. Calls for national debate and strategic action to lift innovation management at the workplace level. Reviews existing innovation survey and calls for better insights into workplace performance and practices, including more facts and statistics. Let’s open up the ‘black box’ of management and become clearer about what it means to manage innovation at the enterprise level, including the leadership styles, workplace cultures and management techniques most successful in producing innovation outcomes. Provides practical examples via five mini-case studies with Microsoft, PwC, AMP, ABC, and Acquire of what it means to enable innovation at the workplace level and the effects it produces. Reviews international government policy initiatives and compares these to Australia. Consults with key stakeholders across Unions, Associations, Universities, Public and Private Sector Organisations and finds strong support for more debate, insights and strategic action to make leadership, culture and innovation management at the workplace level strategic national priorities.
Submission to Kim Carr’s National Innovation Review, April 2008, – prepared by the Society for Knowledge Economics’ Advisory Committee.
An innovation survey, conducted by Open Forum for the Society for Knowledge Economics, identifies the ’enablers’ and ‘impediments’ to innovation in Australian society.
- Enablers of innovation: technology adoption, a ‘can do’ and pioneering attitude, cultural diversity, high education standards, networking and sociability, and a distributed society.
- Impediments to innovation: the tall poppy syndrome, short-termism in business thinking, under-investment in education and infrastructure, a lack of systemic support for innovation, social and political conservatism including a tendency for risk-averse and ‘insurance driven’ thinking, a lack of creative jobs, excessive regulation, and a lack of leadership and communication in business.
SKE Submission to the EBRC for the US Security Exchange Commission’s Inquiry into Improvements to Financial Reporting
Acknowledgement of SKE Contribution by the US Enhanced Business Reporting Consortium – a Thank You note from Michael Krzus, President, EBRC
National Innovation Agenda – The Missing Pillar: Leadership and Culture
In response to the Victorian Government’s National Innovation Agenda, the SKE recently proposed that Management and Leadership Skills as well as Australian Culture and Social Values represent important enablers in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in society. In this response, the SKE proposes that these two ‘roots’ of innovation should be incorporated into the Australian National Innovation Agenda and articulated as strategic priorities and areas for policy development.
To express your view on Australia’s National Innovation Policy, please visit Open Forum
The Knowledge Frontier
This report, undertaken by the Westpac Innovation Unit in conjunction with the SKE in early 2007, is designed to explore emerging trends to stimulate new ideas for business opportunities and value creation. It is intended as a catalyst for further thinking and analysis – a sort of futurist ‘conversation starter’. As such, it deliberately poses questions and posits scenarios, rather than providing prescriptive and finite conclusions.
New Pathways to Prosperity: A National Innovation Framework for Australia
The Society for Knowledge Economics together with the Business Council of Australia identify five priority areas for achieving better innovation outcomes
Australian Guiding Principles on Extended Performance Management
A Guide to Better Managing, Measuring and Reporting – Knowledge Intensive Organisational Resources
Intangible Drivers of Organisational Productivity and Prosperity
This report aims to broaden the perspectives on, and approaches to, the recognition, management and reporting of intangible, knowledge intensive resources in the knowledge era. Specifically, it reviews trends and developments in Extended Performance Management, Measurement and Reporting, highlighting practices, challenges and opportunities in this space in Australia and internationally.
INTANGIBLE CAPITAL VALUE OF ICT INVESTMENTS
Most information, communication and technology (ICT) investments appraisal methods fail to consider the intangible costs and benefits that accrue from ICT investment. This paper presents a framework for considering the intangible capital value of ICT investments. The paper stems from a request by the Australian Government's Information Management Office's request to "Extrapolate the standardised language and approach required to describe structural, relational/social and human capital elements of ICT investments, such that the language and approach can be used for preparing business cases by Australian Government agencies". This project is a collaborative project with CSC, Sydney University and UNSW.
Award winning Paper - An Integrated Framework for Visualising Intellectual Capital
A paper outlining the development of an intellectual capital framework at the NSW Department of Lands has won an Emerald Literati Award as one of the outstanding contributions to the world’s top management publications in 2006. The paper, originally published in Journal of Intellectual Capital , Vol 6, No 4, was commended for illustrating a practical way of enabling management to visualise and assess the contribution of the knowledge-intensive resources to organisational value creation.
Republished with the permission of Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. The world's leading publisher of management journals and databases.
Meetings Around the World: The Impact of Collaboration on Performance
Download the Frost & Sullivan report empirically demonstrating how collaboration is a key driver of performance
Project Summary
Download the overview of SKE Projects